U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that applications for re-enrollment into the new and improved Margin Protection Program for Dairy will be available until the end of the month. MPP-Dairy, which aims to provide better protections for dairy producers than its previous version, benefits farmers by paying them when the difference between the national all-milk price and the national average feed cost falls below a certain dollar amount elected by the producer.

"We recognize the financial hardships many of our nation's dairy producers are experiencing right now," Perdue said. "Folks are losing their contracts and they are getting anxious about getting their bills paid while they watch their milk check come in lower and lower each month. The Bipartisan Budget Act provided some much-needed incentives for dairy producers to make cost-effective decisions to strengthen their farms, mitigate risk, and conserve their natural resources."

As part of the new program, calculations of the margin period are evaluated monthly rather than bi-monthly. Covered production has been increased to five million pounds on the Tier 1 premium schedule, and premium rates for Tier 1 are substantially lowered. And an exemption from paying an administrative fee for limited resource, beginning, veteran and disadvantaged farmers has also been added.

Perdue says dairy operations must make a new coverage election for 2018, even if they enrolled during the previous 2018 signup period.